


Shenanigans in class

by FizzleFudge



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BAMF Merlin, Flirting, Flustered Arthur, M/M, Nothing explict or graphic, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9650078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FizzleFudge/pseuds/FizzleFudge
Summary: When Merlin arrives at class they tell the old tale about the Arthurian Legend that everyone's heard a thousand times, only this time everyone realises there's both a Merlin and an Arthur in the same small class. Coincidence? Probably.





	

Merlin casually strolled the hall on his way to his first class of the day. Everyone was already up and stressily running to their classes with big coffees spillning in their hands, even though it was eleven in the morning and most of them had finished at least two lessons already. Merlin really wasn't too keen on waking up early, so he'd ensured that he never had a class before ten. Every tenth or so student he passed hurriedly waved at him or gave him a high-five which he kind of ironically returned with a smile.  
People called him popular, but he'd rather call it being nice to people and getting new friends in return. Okay, so maybe that was being popular, but it still wasn't really how he would define 'popularity'. Popularity was Leon and Percival with their load pack of friends and parties every other night. His friends Gwaine and Freya, who easily could charm young university students as well as old ladies in the supermarket only with their bright smiles. Or Arthur, the bloke every student seemed to have had a crush on at least once in their lifetime even though he was kind of a douche.  
But honestly Merlin couldn't care less about popularity or wether everyone swooned over him or not. Everything he cared about at the moment was to find his classroom since apparently the engineering class had occupied their usual one.  
He checked his watch every ten seconds, not wanting to be too late to his favorite class - English history with the feirce but dear old teacher Gaius. It was a pretty small class with only seven students, but that just made it cozier in a way. Sometimes they lay in a circle on the floor, listening to whatever Gaius had to say, and sometimes they went on walks along the lakeside or went into the city to see "a true piece of historian work in a modern era", which basically meant Gaius paid the tickets to the cinema so they could watch some cool sci-fi movie during class time. Merlin never used the word 'dope', but if he did that's how he'd describe the class.

He met Gwaine in the hallway, or rather - Gwaine met him, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and crushing Merlin's ribs in one of the trademark Gwaine-meeting-Merlin-hugs that he never got used to. Laughing, Merlin pulled away but with Gwaine's arm still slung around his shoulder, its owner grinning from ear to ear.  
"Sup, shortie", he said and started walking, dragging Merlin with him.  
"I'm about an inch taller than you, y'know?" Merlin answered with a chuckle.  
"Details", Gwaine snorted. "So, whatcha doin' out here? Free period?"  
"No, still looking for the classroom even though I'm already pretty late."  
"That means you can skip all of it", Gwaine decided and Merlin shook his head with a smile. "Wait, aren'tcha in Arthur's class? The one with Gandalf?"  
Merlin laughed heartedly and nodded, waiting for him to tell where he should go.  
"Yeah, I think Arthur mentioned you some time. Did ya actually fall asleep in the tree by the lake last week?"  
Cringing at the memory, Merlin slowly nodded as he thought about how Gaius had told them to climb a thick old tree since apparently it brought good fortune. Well it didn't exactly help Merlin's future since he face-planted a couple of minutes later when he fell down from the branch he'd been sitting on.  
Gwaine stood hunched over and hugging his chest from laughter as Merlin reluctantly told the story, feeling kind of like to slap his past self for letting that sort of thing happen. But at least it made Gwaine happy now, so he wasn't that regretful.  
Straightening his leather jacket after a moment, Gwaine wiped his tears from the corners of his eyes and proceeded to tell Merlin the classroom number where he'd left Arthur twenty minutes earlier, and Merling cringed as he remembered how late he was and started speed-walking to his destination.

Arriving to the class twenty-five minutes late made Gaius lecture him on how important it was to be on time, but the glint in his eyes revealed it didn't really matter.  
He was in the middle of telling a story apparently, and soon Merlin realised it was the Arthurian Legend. Every one of the five students just looked between Arthur and Merlin rather than focusing on the story - everyone'd heard it a billion times already, but the realisation that there was both a Merlin and an Arthur there seemed to only hit them now.  
Elena wiggled her eyebrows toward Arthur before she raised her hand.  
"Were Merls and Arthur in love~?" she said in a sing-song voice and everybody laughed - except Arthur, who seemed to be getting redder and redder by the minute.  
"Well, they weren't exactly official about anything", Gaius began with a smug grin on his face, "and while Arthur and Merlin did indeed love each other no-one knows wether their feelings were simply platonic or not."  
"Ten bucks that they were snogging every chance they got", Percival said.  
To be honest Merlin kind of thought it was a funny coincidence - both of them named after the same legend, even though he didn't really like the self-centered bloke, but Arthur did not seem to share his point of view.  
After hearing everyone (even though it was only five people) laugh and whistle at them, Arthur stood up and faced a grinning Merlin, pointing a finger down at him from accross the small room.  
"If anyone actually cares I will just let you all know that I am not in love with Merlin!" he said with punctuation, squinting his eyes locked on the now slightly uncomfortable brunette as everyone giggled at them. "And even if I was - which I clearly am not - I'd never date him out of all people. He'd probably just fall asleep on me whenever we'd kiss."  
Offended, Merlin stared blankly at him as he heard the others laugh. He understood what he was doing - drawing the embarrassing attention from himself to Merlin, even though it'd been awkward for him too to begin with. But it wasn't like the latter was going to let him just like that. Hell no.  
"You thinking 'bout kissing me often, eh?" He wiggled his eyebrows as Arthur furrowed his own, probably thinking Merlin would've just stayed quiet.  
"I certainly do not-"  
"It's okay, darling", Merlin actually winked at him, "not even us homosexuals want your poor excuse of an arse. Even though", he seductively licked his lips and caught Arthur watching them a bit too intently, "you're clearly missing out on some exceptional mouth-to-mouth action, dear."  
Everyone whoo:ed except for Arthur, who's face was redder than Merlin's scarf. He opened his mouth and then closed it. Then he opened it again, eyes squinting impossibly even more than before, and then said:  
"My arse is not poor, nor is it anything less than magnificent, thank you very much, dear." Merlin tilted his head to the side and unashamedly looked down at Arthur's crotch as the blonde continued talking. "Although I will admit that I don't have any proof that gays don't kiss better than straights and- what the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed, his neck even redder than before.  
"Trying to get a good look of your arse, of course", he simply answered. "But it's so flat that I can't even see it."  
"That's because you're staring at my crotch!"  
"Ah, that's why it's so tiny, then." Merlin looked at him smugly under his fringe as Arthur just stared at him, amazed.  
"Okay boys, now that's enogh!" Gaius said over the loud laughter and wolf-whistles, everyone praising Merlin for ruining a bit of Arthur's massive ego. "Students!" Gaius exclaimed, and they slowly turned quiet. "You're seven people but sound like more than thirty", he sighed. "And Mr. Pendragon, you should probably sit down now, seeing as you-"  
"As he got absolutely rekt!" Cenred called, and Merlin didn't miss the small upward tug of the corner of Gaius' mouth as he continued telling the story.

"Hey, Merlin! Wait up!" Arthur called as soon as the class ended, and with a dramatic sigh Merlin turned around to face the blonde as he struggled to get his bomber jacket on.  
"What do you want, clotpole?" He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the side, a bit amused.  
Arthur stopped his fiddling with the jacket and raised a brow. "Clotpole? Is that even a word?"  
"Well it is now", Merlin took a step backwards, "and if you didn't want anything then I probably should-"  
"Do you want to get a coffee or something?" Arthur asked quickly, a small smile finding its way to his lips as Merlin froze, staring at him. Then a smirk appeared on the latter's face.  
"Oh, did you find it that arousing to have me stare at your crotch, is that it?"  
Arthur's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he tried to think of an answer by opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish a couple of times before simply shrugging.  
"I mean, I can't say that I exactly disliked the honour of being the main attraction of your attention", he scratched his neck as Merlin's grin turned wider, "but that's not why I'm suggesting to go out."  
"Then is it because of my amazingly good looks? Or my ability to make you flustered in a matter of seconds?"  
"Rather the fact that you're an idiot and I feel bad for whoever was going to have to put up with you", Arthur answered and walked up to Merlin, only leaving about a foot or so between them. Merlin saw Gwaine approach them behind Arthur, about to greet them, but Merlin gestured for him to be quiet.  
"Oh, so you're making everyone a favour then?" Merlin filled the remaining distance, feeling the heat radiating from the blonde through his coat as he heard him gulp.  
"Something like that, yeah", Arthur answered, flustered by their proximity.  
Merlin leaned in closer, as if he was going to kiss the other, and Arthur closed his eyes as he parted his lips slightly.  
Having to cover his mouth with a hand to prevent from laughing, Merlin waved the grinning Gwaine over. In a quick motion the men switched places, and as Arthur leaned forward Gwaine pressed his own lips against the others. That was the breaking point for Merlin, who started laughing so hysterically Arthur had to open his eyes to see what was happening. When he realised who he was kissing he abrubtly pushed Gwaine away, disgust evident on his face, making Merlin laugh even more.  
"What the bloody hell is happening!?" He exclaimed, dragging a hand through his hair as Gwaine's arms wrapped themselves around his chest, his head leaning on Arthur's shoulder.  
"Oh, wasn't that amazing, love?" Gwaine mused, and Arthur turned to face Merlin for help.  
"I'm sorry, dollophead, but I don't kiss before the first date." Merlin was sat on the floor, looking up at the blonde with a grin through thick lashes and winked at him.  
"I really, truly hate you guys", Arthur said as he shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.  
"We know", Merlin and Gwaine answered in unison, and a smile spread across Arthur's face as well as on the other two.  
"And we love you too, princess", Gwaine said as he placed a wet, sloppy kiss to Arthur's forehead.  
Gwaine was on the floor seconds later, and Merlin raised to his feet and started walking towards the exit, quickly grabbing a hold of Arthur's arse as he passed him, making the blonde shriek in surprise.  
"Maybe it isn't that flat after all", he said smugly, "so this relationship might actually work out." He heard Arthur catch up to him from behind and felt him pinch his ear.  
"Only if you stop being such a clotpole, that is."


End file.
